You can feel the influence oozing off of it. For never having heard the album before, I loved the piss out of it. Standouts: Bone Machine, Break My Body, Gigantic, Where Is My Mind Bonus points for actually having a good sounding 80s snare drum.
The 3 piano ballads put my ass to sleep…. bitch
You can feel the influence oozing off of it. For never having heard the album before, I loved the piss out of it. Standouts: Bone Machine, Break My Body, Gigantic, Where Is My Mind Bonus points for actually having a good sounding 80s snare drum.
Flawless production and instrumentation. One of the few albums that came close to what the Beatles were doing in the mid-late 60’s. I applaud them for being so pro-harpsichord. Having said that, I found the back half to not be as strong as I remembered, with one song I’ve never liked. Standouts: Care of Cell 44, Beechwood Park, Brief Candles, This Will Be Our Year Turd In the Caviar: Butcher’s Tale
Love the raucous party vibe. Would probably enjoy it even more if it was on in the background at Catfish Jones or some other dungeonesque bar. Any time B.B. is yell-singing or banging away on Lucille it is electric! I can only take so much blues though. It gets my hackles up anytime I hear the band start playing the standard I-IV-V 12 bar blues structure. P.S. - This album reminds me of when B.B. and his wife were going through hard times in their marriage. She wasn’t a fan of all his drinking and he thought she was cheating on him. After a couple of hard years, she saw him perform this concert at the Regal and fell back in love with him. As a show of her devotion, she went to get B.B.’s name tattooed on her body: a B on each ass cheek. Later that night she called B.B. up to the bedroom. When he entered, she pulled down her pants for the unveiling. He gave the tattoo a look over and said, “who’s Bob?”
I was ANTicipating this one because I generally like this style of 80s New Wave, but after several listens I just cANT say anything really stuck with me. The avANT garde drumming style is very ANThemic and exciting but gets tiring after so many songs in a row. Definitely leaves you wANTing for something else. Another half point has to be taken off for the weird deep chANTing backing vocals that can be heard in “Dog Eat Dog” and “Feed Me To the Lion”. Despite my ANTagonizing complaints, I did generally enjoy most of the first half of the album. Just gets very repetitive across 12 songs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V67Mx_gu3lU
A bonafide new wave classic. They were able to get this out before cheesy 80s synths took over their sound. Most of these songs have been heard hundreds of times just from existing in the world but they still pack a punch. This album has been described as their greatest hits and it’s not far from the truth. After the diarrhea deluge of Lightning Bolt, it’s gonna be hard to not rate everything else 5 stars in comparison. If you start at You’re All I’ve Got Tonight and cycle back around to Just What I Needed, stopping before tracks 4 and 5, you’ve got a 5 star album! But as it stands, gonna have to go with….
Despite her lofty reputation, this one was not my cup of tea. Did not enjoy the flaccid music. Did not enjoy the overly busy lyrics. It felt like she was singing the same melody in every song. Standout: In France They Kiss On Main Street Worst song by a country mile: The Jungle Line (and its farty-sounding Moog)
Is this the smoothest album ever made? The answer is yes. Two stars are automatically removed for such a heavy use of saxophone, but one star is added back for the thrusty bass playing on the lusty “Cherry Pie”.
An undeniable classic. One of the 20 albums that would be on Mount Phelpsmore.
Janis (aka proto-Robert Plant) is the star of the show here. She could be playing bluesy rock with any number of filthy hippies and it would be the same effect. Luckily the Holding Company has the goods too. Highlights include “I Need a Man to Love”, “Piece of My Fart”, and “Ball and Chain”. Naturally points have to be taken off for including the lazy 12-bar blues “Turtle Blues”. And “Combination of the Two” sounds like it should be exciting but is just a mess.
BDB’s finest hour. Everything is just so damn lush! I wish more albums took these kinds of stylistic leaps — every song has a unique personality. I applaud the inclusion of all the slighter interlude tracks like “Body Rap” and “Bewilderbeast” because they make the more prominent songs around them even more grand. Boner fuel: “Everybody’s Stalking”, “Once Around the Block”, “Cause a Rockslide”, “Epitaph”
An hour of psychedelic nonsense. The only redeeming factor is I never have to hear it again!
Most all the songs are just 30 second loops stretched out to 4 minutes. And it’s just too long. An hour for the base album and an hour for the B-sides (the double album is the only version on Apple Music). Honey and Natural Blues are standouts.
This 51 minutes felt like 5 hours. Too many songs that all have the same warbly, dissonant jazz chords. Not a fan of the man’s singing voice either. I was listening to this on a drive with my wife and when “Uh Uh” came on she said “what the hell are we listening to?” I was nervous for a minute she had developed telepathy because I was thinking the same thing.
This is far from my wheelhouse so i applaud the 1001 list for getting me to branch out. Sadly, I didn’t find this album to be particularly inspiring. Guru doesn’t ever seem to be very interested in what he’s doing. Sounds very one-note through the whole thing. And Premier’s beats don’t ever evolve into anything. The sample just repeats over and over until the song lazily fades out (I counted 12 of the 18 songs had fade outs — the worst way to end a song) I was happy to hear the “Up On Cripple Creek” guitar part in “Beyond Comprehension” but then realized I’d rather just be listening to The Band. But the biggest sin has to be the annoying high-pitched ghostly squeal during the verses of “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?”
After conquering the world with Come On Eileen, Dexys Midnight Runners took on their next challenge: make an album with no good songs on it. Against all odds, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. As a big fan of 1980s UK rock bands, it’s remarkable how much I didn’t like this. They should’ve taken some of their Eileen money and got this guy some singing lessons. I’m sure he has a very authentic accent from Whereverthefuck, England but it is not pleasing to the ears. The country-tinged “Knowledge of Beauty” might have been passable if they had a good singer on it singing a different melody. Hopefully Warren Zevon sued the piss out of them for “One of Those Things”. I do like thinking that Kid Rock was actually sampling Dexys MR instead of “Werewolves of London”
Is that a herd of buffalo rumbling in the distance? No, it’s just 10 drunken men marching and singing to Land Ho! This is the Doors best album. Nary a stinker to be heard here. Bookended by two badass rockers and filled to the brim with catchy songs. Morrison isn’t quite yet to full blown drunken slurring like he is on LA Woman. The band are always playing interesting parts. You’ll never hear Krieger just strumming the chords to a song. Highlights: Roadhouse Blues, The Spy P.S. PEOPLE DOWN THERE REALLY LIKE TO GET IT ON!!!
Found it serviceable but after a couple listens only a few songs stood out as particularly memorable. Always nice to hear from Mr. Albarn though.
I have to be in the right mood for this kind of music… and today was one of those days. It’s a real ass kicker. The back half of “One” might be the ass kickiest thing they ever did. James and Lars (mostly James) lay down a very tight rhythm section. Having said that, it will never not sound weird to have the bass guitar turned down so low that you can’t hear it (or it’s not there at all). The biggest drawback here is it’s just too long. It’s exhausting to listen to this for over an hour where most of the songs sound pretty samey. Maybe the reason Master of Puppets is the superior album is because it clocks in at a lean 54 minutes. Standouts: “Eye of the Beholder”, “One”
An album loaded up with well-produced pop bang-hers, most of which I am not particularly moved by. Welcome To New York and Style are pretty good. She does have better albums later on so I will be giving this one a…
I’m sure this was the coolest shit ever to a rebellious teen in the 70s, but now these anthems to hard plowing just seem very dorky.
I would love to know what sorcery was used to get such a good sounding album out of 1950s recording equipment (compared to doo wop and early rock of the time) Best vibes for this would be to throw it on in the background of a classy dinner party, something I am not likely to experience personally. The two songs I had already heard (Make Me Feel So Young, Under My Skin) are the best of the batch, while everything else swingingly toes the line.
I’ve always liked how this band pursues each member’s songwriting attempts but in this case they should’ve let Brian May handle most of it (having written the two best songs, “Now I’m Here” and “Stone Cold Crazy”). The cheekiness here is dialed up to 11, and that’s not a good thing. I wonder how many “Bring Back That Leroy Brown” fans got their asses kicked by KISS fans. Every album after this from 1975 to 1980 is much better. I recommend Live From Montreal for this band at their peak. I am leaning towards 2.5 stars here but will round up to 3 to stick it to Ross’s 1 star.
It is impressive that Prince played most all the instruments you hear on this. The guy had some chops! Also impressive that this was recorded analog in 1982, lots of studio trickery going on. This is another case where I was really only able to listen through this once so couldn’t get a good handle on a lot of the deep cuts. All these hour-plus albums are killing me! Best songs: “Little Red Corvette”, “D.M.S.R.”, “Free” Biggest head scratcher: how “Delirious” was a top 10 charting single with that annoying synth lead I will rate this a 3 because I know Purple Rain will be coming later on.
Well performed by all musicians involved but not a very exciting listen.
Doesn’t sound like an album from over 50 years ago — it’s timeless!
Just some fun, rootin’-tootin’ indie rock. I will definitely be coming back to this one. Side note - these guys need someone to help them get better album artwork. Are 12 of their albums are uggos!
I’m sure the musicians involved are at the top of their craft playing the most beautiful Indian music ever created, but this was most certainly not for me. I tried listening intently several times to try and get lost in the vibes and ended up feeling like I was going crazy. Having said that, the santoor seems like it would be a fun instrument to fart around on/master.
This one won me over. Will definitely have to come back to it bc there seems like quite a bit to unpack with such a giant cast of characters. I can’t differentiate between any of the people. Did I just hear ODB or GZA? Who da hell knows! Standouts: “Method Man”, “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin Ta Fuck Wit”
Woooo doggy this was a good one! Stevie really knew how to crank out the classics in the 70s. Standouts: “It Ain’t No Use”, “Bird of Beauty”, “Please Don’t Go”
This pre-Hotel California Eagles is my favorite kind of Eagles - when the focus was more towards performing country-rock with tight harmonies and not towards kicking each others asses. From everything I’ve read about them, Glenn Frey seems like the biggest dickhead to ever walk the planet. I like the story of founding member Bernie Leadon quitting the band by pouring a beer on Glenn’s head. As for this album, the 3 songs that are already radio staples are the best songs, with the deep cuts ranging from adequate to stoinkers. Everything would sound better if the Screaming Man Chorus was yelling along the whole time. The fucking Eagles definitely had some chemistry though. Their version of “Take It Easy” is infinitely more enjoyable than the song’s co-writer Jackson Browne’s version.
Feels like something I should love but it just sounded like a lot of banging around. Will have to revisit this when I get more time to lay with this big bastard.
I mean, c’mon… This is such a step ahead of all the other albums we’ve had so far. I feel bad for ‘em. I suppose I have a bias after having heard this many times over the last 28 years but there’s a reason it has stood the test of time when something like…. The Verve have faded to relative obscurity. Radiohead was taking rock to straaaange new places. This is their peak as a rock band before they started getting overly artsy fartsy and electronic. I considered giving this album the elusive 5.5 stars but after listening to it today I realized that “Climbing Up the Walls” doesn’t really do much for me.